The Week Long Trial Of The Fox
by CeceTheAuthor
Summary: When Alya arrived home for lunch, the last thing she expected to discover was a familiar looking box in her room and to be participating in a trial.
1. The Note

"Pound it!" Paris' resident superheroes exclaim as they do their celebratory fist bump.

Ladybug's earrings let out her two minute warning as she grabs her yo-yo, preparing to leave the site that, only five minutes ago, had been completely destroyed by the unusually destructive Akuma.

"Bug out!"

Ladybug runs along the rooftops as she makes her way to Master Fu's shop where she has made the decision to ask a huge favour. That fight was too close to comfort for her, she thought that her partner, Chat Noir, had died for a moment until it was revealed that he had dodged the hit.

Reaching the alleyway next to Master Fu's shop, Ladybug checks for onlookers and drops her transformation, red sparks of magic overtaking her and revealing Marinette underneath.

Her kwami, Tikki, lands in her hand as Marinette reaches into her purse and hand Tikki a cookie before they head inside.

"Why are we here?" Tikki questions, wondering why Marinette hadn't headed back home or to school.

"It's lunch break now so I'm not missing lessons Tikki. That and the battle really rattled me, I thought that he was as good as dead." The young girl explains, knocking on the door.

"Come in!"

"Hello Master, I have an important favour to ask you." Marinette says and walks in to the room, sitting across from Master Fu.

"Of course Marinette. How can I help you?" He asks and Wayzz joins them, floating out from his hiding spot behind the phonograph.

"Well, you see, that battle scared me Master. I thought we were going to lose for a second there," She begins and then takes a deep breath. "I was wondering if we could let Alya have her Miraculous?"

Master Fu pauses for a moment and hums in contemplation, calculating the risks of her idea. He turns to his kwami Wayzz who has a doubtful look on his face.

"It's too risky to put out more miraculous. I already took a great risk in giving out the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses." He states, an apologetic look on his face.

She looks over to see that a now replenished Tikki has the same apologetic look displayed too.

Marinette's pleading smile turns into a frown and then back to a smile again as an idea hits her.

"What about if we trial her for a week? Give her the Miraculous for a week as a test and at the end judge whether she is worthy to keep it like Chat Noir and I do!" Marinette exclaims hopefully.

Another look is shared between Master Fu and Wayzz, almost as if they have some sort of secret telepathic connection between the two of them.

"That sounds reasonable enough. Wayzz and I will be the judges at the end of this 'trial'." Master Fu replies and heads over to the phonograph hiding the box filled with Miraculous.

He puts in the code and takes out the box, placing it on the ground in front of Marinette. Her and Tikki share an excited glance as Marinette thinks of the possibilities of her best friend also being a full time superhero.

"I trust that you'll make sure that it won't get into the wrong hands," He says and picks up the Miraculous, placing it inside a smaller box. "Write her a note and I will deliver the Miraculous to her room."

* * *

"I'm home!" Alya shouts as she walks through the door and into the Césaire's apartment, shutting the door once she's inside.

"Alya!" She heads the twins, Ella and Etta, shout out from the living area where they seem to be watching some sort of animal themed television show.

Alya walks into her room and places her bag down on her bed as she takes some homework out of it.

The last thing she expected to see when she turned to face her desk was a box with a letter lying next to it.

A very familiar box along with a letter bearing the symbol of the fox miraculous on the envelope.

Alya puts her homework down and walks over towards her desk, taking the letter and cautiously opening it with an excited smile on her face.

She opens up the envelope and takes out the folded piece of paper inside of it, her ecstatic grin growing bigger by the second.

 ** _Dear Alya,_**

 ** _We're trusting you to aid us in our fight against Hawkmoth and to battle any akumas with us that appear within the next week._**

 ** _However, once the week ends, you must meet me at the Trocadero to return your Miraculous and ensure your safety as a civilian._**

 ** _Are you up to the task?_**

 ** _-Ladybug_**

Alya gasps at the newfound information and places the note down before picking up the small box.

As the box is opened, a bright magical light flashes in her face and her arm moves up to shield herself from it.

When the light had died down, Alya moves her arm away to see a small floating fox in front of her.

It was called a kwami if she had remembered correctly. Hopefully she had.

"Hello again Alya," The small creature greets. "I've already been informed about this week and I'm delighted about it. I'm so happy to see you again!"

The small creature nuzzles Alya's cheek, causing the girl to giggle at the slightly ticklish form of affection as the small creature's tail brushes her face.

"I'm happy to see you Trixx!" Alya replies and beams at the kwami.

She then sees the time on the clock behind Trixx, realising that she only has ten minutes until she needs to leave in order to be back to school on time for her afternoon classes.

She had Ms. Mendeleiev next and did not want to be late for that. She'd probably land herself in detention if she dared to show up even a minute later than the bell.

"Are you okay?" Trixx questions, waving her small paws in front of Alya's face with a worried expression on her face. "You zoned out for a moment there."

"Oh. Sorry, Trixx. I just remembered that I have to leave for school soon- school! Where are you supposed to go when I'm at school?!" Alya suddenly remembers, her eyes widening as she ponders where to keep Trixx.

"I could always just go in your hair. It's voluminous enough for me to remain hidden." Trixx jokes, a glint of mischief showing in her eyes causing Alya to giggle.

She thinks for a moment, trying to come up with a solution. She didn't want the poor kwami to have to sit in her bag all day. That and she wouldn't always have it with her throughout the day.

"You can go in my shirt pocket. It should be alright until we figure out a more permanent solution." Alya suggests and Trixx nods in confirmation, hiding in the pocket.

Alya grabs her bag and starts to head of the apartment, grabbing a quick snack in replacement of lunch along the way.

The grin that came upon her face from discovering the miraculous and the legged still hadn't fallen from her face. She doubted it would go away all day.


	2. School

"Excuse me! Coming through!" Alya shouts as she runs through the streets of Paris back towards her school.

She quickly checks the time on her phone. Seeing that she only had two minutes until the late bell would ring, Alya began to sprint faster than before and almost managed to knock over a flower stand and a few people during her mad dash. Every time she almost slammed someone to the ground she would make an exclamation of "Sorry!" and continue on her way to make it to Science class on time.

Reaching the front of the school she slowed down to a jog in order to catch her breath from the ten minute sprint she had just performed.

"All that air was very refreshing." Trixx whispers from her shirt pocket and Alya glanced down to see that some tiny tufts of his fur have become windswept. The kwami must have poked his head out of Alya's pocket at some point.

"Shhhh." Alya shushes Trixx and gently nudges him back into the pocket. Alya doesn't know what she would have done if anyone were to discover the fox kwami in her pocket. Maybe she could pretend he was a toy? Although that would probably just lead to tormenting from Chloe so she'd have to come up with some other sort of back-up plan in case of discovery.

As Alya finally made it into class and sat down, her once ragged breathing now completely normal, the late bell rang signalling that she had made it just in time for class. She dreads to think about what punishment Madame Mendeleiev would have given her if she had arrived soon _after_ the bell.

Marinette, however, was nowhere to be seen.

The girl must have fallen asleep or lost track of time when working on one of her many designs again.

A short while into the lesson, Marinette finally decided to make an appearance (in true Marinette style) by slamming the door open in a mad rush and falling to the floor as she trips over her own feet.

"Sorry Marinette!" A voice says from behind her and Alya looks up to see Adrien standing in the doorway Marinette had just burst in from.

Alya could have sworn that he was here at the start of the lesson. Although Nino did mention that Adrien was just as bad as Marinette for disappearing at random points during the day but Alya thought that he'd been talking about the boy's busy schedule.

"And what do you two have to say for yourselves?" Madame Mendeleiev inquires, hands on her hips and an annoyed glare on her face. She really did hate it when the class was interrupted.

"I, er, well you see the thing is we kinda, sorta, maybe-" Marinette begins to stutter but is cut off by their teacher.

"No excuses Miss Dupain-Cheng!"

"We got caught in an akuma attack and had to wait until we were allowed to leave the area." Adrien hurriedly explained but Alya could tell from the way that he rubbed his neck and gritted his teeth that he has lying.

However, Madame Mendeleiev seemed to believe them and let them off with a warning. What _had_ they been up to? Areas where akumas attacked were usually instant safe zones once the magic ladybugs could be seen zooming around the city.

She would get to the bottom of it someday. But, for now, she had science to focus on.

The "Are you okay? You've looked overwhelmingly excited all day." Alya hears a voice say as they head out of their final class for the day. She recognises the voice and turns around to see Nino stood with Adrien, Marinette being stood by Alya's side.

 _'Don't tell them. Don't tell them. Don't tell them.'_ She repeats as a mantra in her head, trying not to let her inner reporter explain the latest scoop. She can already feel her hands becoming clammy.

"I, er, I saw Ladybug and Chat Noir earlier!" Alya says and nervously giggles. That was a complete lie, she hadn't even been anywhere near the attack at all. Besides, she saw the superhero duo almost every day at this point. "Gotta go bye!"

The other three glance worriedly at each other as Alya runs away from them, sprinting out of the classroom as fast as she could and out into the corridoor.

"Did I say something wrong?"

After checking to make sure that the bathroom was completely empty, Alya runs into one of the stalls and nudges her pocket, prompting Trixx to wake up from his nap and fly out of his hiding spot.

"This is going to so much harder than I thought. What if I mess up? What if I lose the miraculous? What if I accidentally tell everyone? This is going to be a disaster!" Alya rambles, placing her hands on either side of her head in frustration. She never normally freaks out like this!

Seeing her holder's panicked expression, Trixx nuzzles Alya's cheek in an attempt to comfort her.

"It'll be okay Alya. You've got all the makings of a true superhero, I believe in you." The fox kwami comforts and a small smile makes its way onto Alya's face.

"You're kind. You're loyal. You're trustworthy." Trixx continues on as he carries on brushing his tail onto Alya's face, causing the girl to giggle as the fluffy fur tickles her face.

"Okay, you're right. I can do this! I'm Rena Rouge, a heroine of Paris!" She exclaims with newfound motivation as she pumps her fist into the air. She can do this! She can prove to Ladybug and Chat Noir what a worthy teammate she is!

"We should get going home now. Do you know if you have any fruit at home, preferably berries?" Trixx asks as the two of them walk out of the bathroom, conversing in hushed whispers so that they won't be caught by anyone who is still at the school.

Soon after they leave, another figure emerges from a few stalls over with a smile on her face.

"I knew she would be able to do it." Marinette says to Tikki as the two exchange a smile.

"Weren't you supposed to join the boys, Marinette? You said you were going to check and then come right back." Tikki reminds her and Marinette gasps in realisation.

Marinette sprints out of the bathroom in an attempt to beat Alya back to Adrien and Nino, Tikki flying back into her purse.

She arrives at the bottom of the steps outside the school to see Nino waving to Adrien as he is driven away by his chauffeur, panting when she stops to catch her breath next to him.

"Sorry, I couldn't find her." She says between breathes as Nino chuckles, shaking his head at his friend's antics.

"Hey!"

They turn around to see Alya, a large grin on her face as she runs down to meet them at the bottom of the steps.

"Race you to Marinette's house!" She shouts and the three of them sprint off, laughter echoing around them and smiles on their faces.


	3. DreamCatcher

It had been a few days since Alya had received the fox miraculous and the note that came along with it. So far, she hadn't had the need to transform into Rena Rouge and had managed to hide the necklace and Trixx from everyone around her.

She'd also discovered that Trixx, true to his likeliness of a fox, liked to eat fruits and berries which wasn't too hard for Alya to find. When you've got five of you living in the house, things tend to come in excess supply.

Alya has to admit that it's fun to have Trixx around. It means that she has someone to talk to every time Marinette decides to go AWOL and Nino doesn't seem to be available. Although, when an akuma attack finally takes place, she will be the one going AWOL.

She had shown Trixx her class photos from the small photo shoot they had had in the park and explained who everyone was and what they were like. The fox kwami had agreed that Chloé really needed an attitude change after hearing Alya's description of the girl.

Trixx had also teased her about Nino multiple times throughout the past four days of getting to know her, foxes are mischievous creatures after all and it seems that the fox kwami is no different.

Alya was on day five of her trial now, a Friday, and no akumas had popped up yet which was reasonably worrying. Maybe the people of Paris were getting a better hold of their emotions nowadays? Although with Chloé around, no one could ever really predict what may happen.

Leaving school for lunch that day, Alya heard a scream come from a few streets away.

'Spoke too soon, I guess there is an akuma out there today.' She thinks as she hears yet another scream, although it sounds as if it's closer this time.

Running towards the danger, Alya pulls her phone out and starts recording for the Ladyblog, not noticing the nudges Trixx keeps giving her from her pocket. There were too many people around for Trixx to go out of his hiding place in Alya's pocket and shout at her to get going.

It's only when she sees Ladybug swinging towards the danger, Chat Noir not too far behind, that she realises that she's supposed to be there fighting alongside them and not recording for her blog.

She quickly puts her phone away and runs to the nearest alleyway to transform and lets Trixx out of her pocket.

"Sorry Trixx, I guess it's just a habit of mine at this point." She apologises, rubbing the back of her neck as she looks around to make sure that nobody can see them.

"It's okay, but now you need to transform, remember the phrase?" He asks and Alya nods in response as a grin makes its way to her face.

"Trixx! Let's pounce!"

A wave of magic overtakes her and leaves Rena Rouge standing in Alya's place.

She jumps up to the rooftops and heads in the direction of a distant scream. When she gets there she sees Ladybug and Chat Noir trying to talk the villain out of attacking another victim. The villain doesn't seem to listen though as he swoops down to grab another civilian.

Without thinking, Rena Rouge dives in and grabs the innocent civilian from the akuma's hold before an attack can commence and carries them to the safety of a nearby street that's out of harm's way.

When she looks to check if the civilian is okay, she notices that she just saved none other than Nino Lahiffe, her boyfriend.

'Don't tell him who you are. Don't tell him who you are. Don't tell him who you are.'

"Are you okay?" She blurts out in a panic to not mess up as she places him on the ground and he nods, the shock of being in danger must still be there. "Be more careful next time." She reminds him and winks before running back towards the action.

'Why did I wink at him?!'

Snapping out of her thoughts, she takes the time to take in the akuma's appearance and abilities as she lands next to her teammates on a rooftop where they can overlook what the akuma is doing.

The akuma seems to be floating above the ground rather than walking and has multiple dreamcatchers floating around him in the shape of a circle.

"What's going on?" Rena Rouge asks and Chat Noir looks at her in shock. He must not know about the trial and he must have not spotted her when he and Ladybug raced past and into the action earlier on.

"Nice to see you again, sneaky fox." He says and grins at her.

"He seems to wave the dreamcatcher over someone's head which looks as if it may be collecting their dreams and maybe even their nightmares from them. Everyone who has had it done to them screams in pain and then collapses to the ground in a comatose state." Ladybug quickly explains.

Rena Rouge scans the akumatised victim for any objects and notices a watch on his left wrist. Maybe that's the object with the akuma in it!

"It's in the watch!" She shouts and points to it.

"Time's ticking. We'd better take down this villain fast." Chat Noir puns and Rena sees Ladybug roll her eyes at him.

The villain seems to have noticed them after Rena Rouge shouted out as he makes a declaration.

"I am DreamCatcher! If I can't sleep in and not face the consequences then Paris must be put into an eternal slumber!"

Not face the consequences? The victim must be someone who slept in and ended up late somewhere.

'They must have been fired from their job or suspended!'

"Jean! What happened to you?!" A man in a business suit shouts at him. "I told you that you should of set an alarm but you didn't listen!"

"How many times do I have to say that the loud noise terrifies me!" DreamCatcher screams and lashes out at the man, swiping the dreamcatcher over his head and stealing his dreams and nightmares.

The man lets out a scream and then collapses to the ground just like the rest of the civilians who ended up being caught up in the attack. It's akuma like these who target civilians as well as the superheroes that become dangerous quickly.

"We need to stop this, ASAP." Chat Noir states seriously looking towards Ladybug who nods in response. The two seem to share a telepathic connection at this point as Rena Rouge is left confused as to what they are about to do.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug calls out and an object materialises from the sky in a flash of magic, landing in Ladybug's hands soon after.

"Is that a smoke machine?" Rena Rouge asks as she points to the small machine Ladybug is holding. Ladybug nods and looks around, trying to formulate a plan of action to defeat Hawkmoth's latest attempt at getting a hold of their miraculous.

She spots the watch on DreamCatcher's hand, Chat Noir's hand, Rena Rouge's flute and the lucky charm. A plan instantly formulates in her head.

"We have to bring his nightmare to life!" She exclaims, placing the smoke machine down. "Chat Noir, you go and distract him! Rena, you heard what he said his fear was so, when I tell you to, bring it to life!"

"You got it, M'Lady!" Chat Noir responds and runs towards the villain, calling out to him.

"Hey! Over here sleepy!" He calls out and DreamCatcher turns around, a menacing smile on his face. Chat Noir then starts sprinting back towards them to lure DreamCatcher into their trap.

"Get his Miraculous!" Hawkmoth calls out as the glowing butterfly mask appears across DreamCatcher's face which adorns a look of anger.

Ladybug turns on the smoke machine as Chat Noir leads DreamCatcher closer towards her and Rena and a thick layer of grey smoke appears around their feet, rising up around them, and soon reaches DreamCatcher, blocking his vision and confusing him.

"Rena, now!" She hears Ladybug call out. That's her cue!

'Focus,' she thinks. 'Make an illusion. The villain is scared of loud noises.' She reminds herself. 'Got it!'

"Mirage!" She calls out and blows into her flute and a short tune plays. A ball of orange light comes out of the top of her flute which then materialises into the illusion she had come up with.

All of a sudden, a blaring noise comes from the many alarm clocks that were created by the illusion and DreamCatcher collapses to the ground, covering his ears in an attempt to try and block out the overwhelming sound echoing around them.

"Chat Noir, now!" She hears Ladybug shout from somewhere to her right. The smoke is beginning to thin but it's still a bit hard to make out where the other two heroes are stood.

"Cataclysm!" Rena Rouge hears Chat Noir shout from her left and sees a dark figure run forwards into the fog. Maybe his night vision helps him to see where he's going?

As the smoke dies down, a purple butterfly can be seen flying away after being released from the watch that Chat Noir had just used his Cataclysm on.

Ladybug then uses her yo-yo to capture the butterfly and cleanse it, making it become a pure white butterfly once more.

"Bye bye little butterfly." She says and waves to the small creature as it flutters away from them and into the distance.

She then throws the small smoke machine into the air and calls out her signature phrase "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A swarm of magical ladybugs and bright lights fly over the city and the comatose civilians begin to stir and wake up from their once eternal slumber that DreamCatcher had caused.

The three heroes face each other and hold their fists out to each other in the middle.

"Pound it!" They shout in victory as DreamCatcher turns back into a civilian.

Simultaneously, their Miraculous beep and they each wave to the crowd as they head away from the location of the attack.

Sneaking a glance behind her, Rena Rouge notices that Ladybug and Chat Noir ran off in the same direction.

'Maybe they know each other's identities!' She realises as she lands in an alleyway after checking that nobody followed her. There's no doubt that the news stations noticed that she appeared at the scene of the attack and are going to report on it. They knew about Rena Rouge already and, knowing how reporters are, they would stop at nothing to eat up ant information they could find about her.

When detransformed, she catches Trixx in her hands and reaches into her bag to get the box of berries she put in there for Trixx to munch on whenever he got hungry. She made sure to keep some on her at all times this week in case of emergency.

"That was amazing Alya! Well done." Trixx congratulates after getting his energy back causing Alya to smile.

Checking the time, Alya realises that there was no point in going home for lunch and decided to head back to the school so that she could be on time for afternoon classes.

When arriving she could see that Adrien, Marinette and Nino were already there and Nino seemed to be gushing about something as he had a wide smile on his face and his hands were making many movements as he explained something.

"And then, when I thought I was a goner, she swooped in and saved me. It was amazing!" He finishes and notices Alya approaching.

"Alya! You'll never guess what happened to me today!" He exclaims. Little did he know that she could, she'd been the one to save him after all.

"What happened?" She humours, trying not to make it sound like she already knows.

"I got saved by Rena Rouge today!" He exclaims and starts to ramble about it again.

Looking to her left, Alya notices that Marinette and Adrien seemed to have taken this as an opportunity to scamper away. Oh well, it means that the two of them are alone with each other which means that Marinette actually has to try and speak to Adrien.

She continues to listen to Nino repeat the events with a large grin spreading on his face and smiles back at him, only partially concentrating on what he's saying.

'Now I know what I sound like when talking about Ladybug.'


	4. Patrol

"There, that should do it! How does it look Trixx?" Alya asks as she finishes writing a blog post about the akuma attack from earlier on in the day. She still felt on top of the world for getting so much praise from Ladybug and Chat Noir for her help.

The ten minute long gushing from Nino was nice to hear too and an added bonus. He'd declared that he would buy merchandise of her and even went as far as to commission Marinette to make him a jacket. It was adorable to see and hear.

He then profusely apologised to Alya for 'betraying' her and dramatically declared his love for her again. The whole thing just had Alya, Adrien and Marinette in a fit of laughter. Little did Nino know that the superhero he was gushing about was actually his girlfriend so he needn't worry about 'betraying' her.

The memory of that occasion brought a warm smile to her face as she wondered how many other residents of Paris would become amazed by her in the same way that she was amazed by Ladybug and Chat Noir.

She hoped that she'd become just as much of an inspiration to the people of Paris as they had become to her.

"It looks great to me. Just remember not to add too much detail so that people won't become suspicious." Trixx reminded from his perch upon her shoulder, eating a berry.

A few minutes later, the blog post was checked over and edited one last time before being uploaded for followers and viewers of the blog to see.

A few moments later, a knock sounded at the window and Alya looked over to see Ladybug on her balcony waving to her from the other side of the glass. She quickly rushed over there and opened it to let the superheroine inside.

"Ladybug, what are you doing here?" Alya asked as the spotted heroine made her way inside Alya's room, glancing over at Alya's laptop which was still open on the recently published article from the akuma attack that had happened earlier on in the day. She had made sure to check that she hadn't included any details that she wasn't supposed to know so that her identity wouldn't be discovered or under suspicion from observant blog followers.

"Well, you see, Chat Noir and I go on patrols every other night to check for late night akumas and to make sure that all of the people of Paris are out of harm's way. We would like to invite you to join us for the first time tonight." Ladybug explains and Alya's face lights up in excitement.

She had heard reports of the superhero duo running around Paris late at night but she never knew why until now. Now that thought about it, the fact that they were just patrolling the city was pretty obvious.

"I would love to join the two of you tonight," She responds and looks over to her kwami. "Trixx, let's pounce!" Alya calls out and a magical orange light washes over her as Trixx is sucked into her miraculous and she transforms into her fox themed super-heroine persona, Rena Rouge.

"Follow me." Ladybug says as they jump out of Alya's bedroom window, and onto the surrounding rooftops, so that they are able to head to their destination where they will be meeting Chat Noir.

"Where are we going Ladybug?" Rena Rouge asks as they jump across a gap where one building ends and another begins.

"You'll see." Is all the information she gives as she continues to swing along on her yo-yo.

As Rena Rouge runs along the rooftops she can feel the evening breeze flow past her and she smiles at the feeling of total freedom as she jumps through the air. The super jumping power that the miraculous granted was a truly impossible feat to perform for anyone else but the suit had its perks and this was one of them.

Looking ahead, she can see that they seem to be heading towards the Eiffel Tower to start their patrol. Ladybug stops for a moment to wrap her arm around Rena's waist as she swings them both to the Eiffel Tower from the nearby rooftop they had previously landed on. Not even a super jump can make it that distance after all.

"Hey!" They hear a voice shout as they land and turn around to see Chat Noir vaulting towards the spot they just landed upon.

"Great job today Rena, I'm glad you could join us." He greets and holds his hand out. The two of them perform their handshake just like they did after Rena Rouge had used her powers for the first time.

"Ready to patrol, kitty?" Ladybug asks Chat Noir with a wink.

'Did she just flirt with him?' Rena Rouge wonders as she looks between the two superheroes who seem to be solely focused on each other.

"I'm always ready for you M'Lady." He suavely replies and places a kiss on her hand, causing Rena Rouge to giggle at them.

The team of three superheroes then head off of the Eiffel Tower and begin to patrol around the magically lit up city.

"This is amazing!" Rena Rouge shouts as they pass well known building such as the Louvre and Tour Montparnasse as well as some civilians out on evening walks who they waved to.

Alya has never felt so happy in her life. This was a unique experience that only a few select people in the world were ever able to experience and she just happened to be one of the lucky few.

By the time they got back to the Eiffel Tower, the moon was already out in the night sky and stars shimmered around them.

"So, how'd you like patrol." Chat Noir asks as they land back on the Eiffel Tower.

"I loved it!" Rena responded. Her eyes then wandered to Chat Noir's hand which was currently wrapped around Ladybug's waist.

'What's going on between them?' Rena Rouge wonders, theories already making their way into her head.

"Do you two know each other's secret identities?" Alya blurts out and claps a hand over her mouth as the super duo's eyes widen and blushes make an appearance on their faces.

Ladybug turns towards Chat Noir and hides her red face in his chest as her chuckles and wraps his other arm around her.

"Well, you know we can't tell you that but I guess you could say that Ladynoir is canon." He hints and Rena's face lights up in happiness.

"I'm so happy for you guys!" She exclaims and hugs the two of them.

"Don't tell anyone though, okay?" Ladybug requests and Rena Rouge nods her head. She knows that Ladybug means that she shouldn't post it on the Ladyblog but Chat Noir doesn't know who she is so the cant exactly say that out loud.

They spend the next hour laughing and joking with one another and telling each other stories about their kwamis. Chat Noir's kwami, Plagg, sounds like the most troublesome of the lot.

"And there was also the time he got a bracelet stuck on his head. I had to pup pepper on a slice of Camembert so that he'd sneeze and the bracelet would come off of his head." Chat Noir finishes and they girls giggle at the thought of a tiny cat stuck in a bracelet.

Eventually, they had to call it a night. All three of them had to get up early in the morning for reasons they could not specify due to them being things that are going on their civilian lives. For Alya, it was just the usual babysitting of her twin sisters.

"Also, our next patrol is the final day of our trial so remember to meet us at the Trocadero." Ladybug reminds as she takes a hold of Chat Noir's hand. "Do you know your way home from here?"

At Rena's nod, Ladybug and Chat Noir say their goodbyes before waving and heading home. Rena also noticed that they seemed to go in the same direction, maybe they lived near each other?

When Alya arrived home she detransformed and caught Trixx as he flew out of the necklace.

After feeding Trixx some berries to replenish his energy and making sure that she still had some in supply for whenever Trixx needed something to snack on, she checked her blog to see that some civilians had sent in pictures of Ladybug, Chat Noir and Rena Rouge on their patrol.

She smiled at the fact that she was becoming a public figure in the same way as her partners and that the citizens of Paris trusted her just as much. Maybe she'd even get her own statue someday.

After saving a few of the submitted photos to her phone and sending them to the group chat between her, Marinette, Adrien and Nino, she decided to call it a night and head to bed so that she could handle her sisters in the morning and wouldn't be falling asleep at random point during the day.

She was a superhero after all, she couldn't be late to an attack because of a lack of sleep. It was now her shared duty with Ladybug and Chat Noir to protect the citizens of Paris at all costs.

Even if it meant sacrificing some much needed hours of sleep.


	5. Trial End

On the final day of the trial and two days after her first patrol as Rena Rouge, Alya held the foxtail section of the necklace that still hung on her neck in her hand as she looked in the mirror, reflecting on the events of the past week.

The excitement at finding out she had the chance to be Rena Rouge again. The fear that she may mess up completely and that her identity may be discovered. The pride from helping Ladybug and Chat Noir to defeat the DreamCatcher. The feeling of freedom as she ran along the rooftops during their group patrol two days ago.

A whole range of different emotions and experiences all crammed in to the space of a single week.

And now, she felt a mix of happiness, excitement and misery all at the same time.

Happiness because this has been the best week of her life, excitement because she's happy to have to opportunity to work with Ladybug and Chat Noir again, and misery because this means that she has to say goodbye to Trixx who has been her faithful companion throughout the past week and helped through it all.

Seeing Alya's distress, Trixx nuzzles into Alya's face again as he found that it seemed to soothe the teenage girl and bring a smile to her face. Trixx didn't want her to be sad because of him.

"Well, I guess it's time to go." Alya says, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as she looks at her kwami. "I'm going to miss you so much Trixx." She laments, wiping away a stray tear that had just fallen.

"I'll miss you too, Alya, it's been such a long time since I've had a holder and modern time is so different to the places I've been to in the past." Trixx replies, his tiny fangs visible because of his smile. "Until next time, Alya."

The two of them share one last nuzzle to the cheek before saying their goodbyes. Alya then called out her transformation and jumped out from her balcony and onto the rooftops of Paris, heading towards the Trocadero where she would be meeting up with Ladybug and Chat Noir to return her Miraculous.

The air felt still that night, almost as if it were reflecting the tension Alya held within herself as she arrived at her destination to see that Ladybug and Chat Noir were already there waiting for her.

They finally spot her as she lands on the roof with a soft thud and starts to walk over towards the two of them.

"Thank you," Rena Rouge says, tearing pooling up in her eyes. "Thank you so much for letting me temporarily work with you again. I'll never forget this." She continues and Ladybug and Chat Noir wrap their arms around her, pulling her into a group hug.

"I guess I have to give you my Miraculous now." She says and begins to take off her necklace when Ladybug places a hand on top of her own.

"Actually." She grins, sharing a knowing look with Chat Noir. "You don't."

Earlier that same day, Marinette made her way to Master Fu's house with Tikki sat in her purse. She was hoping that Master Fu would be happy with the help that Alya provided when she transformed into Rena Rouge and may let her keep it for a short while longer.

When she arrives she knocks on the door to the room containing the Miraculous box where Master Fu and his kwami Wayzz can normally be found.

"Come in."

Marinette walks in and sits opposite Master Fu as Wayzz and Tikki float away towards the phonograph, most likely to drink some tea together as per usual.

Marinette really needed to invest in some of those tiny tea cups for Tikki and Plagg for whenever Adrien decides to visit her.

"So, how do you think she did this week?" Marinette asks hopefully as Master Fu pours a cup of tea for himself.

"Very well. She seems to have a good understanding of her powers and how to use them effectively. She also has a curious mind which is fitting for the fox miraculous." Master Fu replies as he takes a sip of his tea.

"Chat Noir and I are meeting her at the Trocadero tonight to collect her Miraculous so you should have it back by tomorrow morning." Marinette informs and Master Fu shakes his head causing a look of confusion to show on Marinette's face.

"No, there is no need. She has proven herself worthy to hold the Miraculous, let her keep it like you and Chat Noir do with yours." Master Fu says and Marinette grins, ecstatic for her best friend.

"Thank you Master! She going to be so happy." Marinette exclaims and throws her arms in the air as Master Fu chuckles at her silly behaviour.

"I get to keep it?!" Rena Rouge exclaims in happiness, even jumping up and down on the spot, and Ladybug nods in response. "Thank you so much!"

"You proved yourself worthy to be a part of the team in the eyes of the great guardian so you've earned it, Rena." Chat Noir says.

"Soooo...does this mean I get to know who you are?" Rena Rouge slyly asks and the three of them share a laugh. "Just kidding, I know how important identities are."

"Well, maybe one day." Ladybug decides as she smiles at Rena Rouge who still has tears of happiness still rolling down her cheeks.

"We'll think about it." Chat Noir agrees. "Welcome to the team."

Any lucky civilian that night would have seen the three superheroes jumping along the rooftops together once again, a large grin on all of their faces as the leap through the air.

At one point, Rena Rouge spots Nino walking home and decides to wave to him and wink after noticing his Rena Rouge themed jacket which Marinette had made him as she promised. Nino grinned and waved back before Rena jumped away again.

A few weeks later, a new statue appeared in the park commemorating Rena Rouge's help in saving the city. There was even a grand unveiling like there was with the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue which it was placed next to.

She spotted Nino amongst the crowd, filming the event. She also noticed that he was wearing the Rena Rouge themed jacket that Marinette had gladly made him which caused her to blush slightly. Thank goodness the mask his that slightly.

Alya had to make an illusion of herself holding her phone in order to not raise suspicion and thankfully she managed to make the illusion hold for the whole ceremony. That practice ended up being useful.

It also turned out that Ladybug and Chat Noir turned out to be none other than her friends Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. No wonder the two of them seemed so much closer all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, in the penthouse suite of Le Grande Paris, Chloé Bourgeois headed inside her luxury bedroom after a day long shopping spree.

She placed her bags down on her table and pulled out a few items of clothing to go and hang up in her massive wardrobe.

When she walked past her bed, she dropped to clothes on the floor, noticing an all too familiar looking black box with red masking on it placed on her bed with a note attached to it. The envelope had the symbol of the bee miraculous displayed on it so she knew that it was addressed directly to her.

It was an all too familiar box containing the bee hair comb. The miraculous that allowed Chloé to become her superhero persona, Queen Bee.

And a note informing her that she was to be out on trial to keep the miraculous for a week so that they could see how she coped holding the secret.

And, with a flash of yellow light and magic, the teenage girl and her bee kwami were reunited once more.


End file.
